Introduction
This practical and comprehensive masterclass is designed for legal professionals, competition lawyers, in-house counsel, compliance professionals, regulatory affairs specialists, economists, business executives, and professionals responsible for competition law, antitrust compliance, commercial practices, and regulatory risk.
The course provides a practical understanding of the key principles, rules, risks, and challenges associated with competition law and antitrust. It focuses on identifying, assessing, troubleshooting, and resolving competition-related issues that may arise in day-to-day commercial activities.
The programme covers anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, cartels, information exchange, pricing practices, mergers and acquisitions, market definition, investigations, compliance programmes, dawn raids, regulatory enforcement, and competition law risk management.
Particular emphasis is placed on practical troubleshooting techniques, enabling participants to identify potential competition concerns at an early stage, assess legal and commercial exposure, respond effectively to regulatory issues, and develop practical solutions that support compliant business decision-making.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the fundamental principles, objectives, and framework of modern competition law and antitrust.
- Identify the main forms of anti-competitive conduct and competition law violations.
- Understand how competition authorities assess potentially anti-competitive behaviour.
- Apply practical techniques for identifying and troubleshooting competition law risks.
- Analyse anti-competitive agreements, arrangements, and business practices.
- Identify and assess cartel risks and prohibited coordination between competitors.
- Understand the competition law implications of information exchange between competitors.
- Assess pricing practices, discounts, rebates, and other potentially problematic commercial strategies.
- Understand the legal and commercial risks associated with abuse of dominance.
- Apply practical approaches to market definition and competitive assessment.
- Understand the competition law aspects of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships.
- Identify potential competition concerns during commercial negotiations and business transactions.
- Understand the investigation and enforcement powers of competition authorities.
- Prepare effectively for competition law investigations and regulatory inquiries.
- Develop practical competition law compliance and risk-management frameworks.
- Improve internal decision-making and escalation procedures for competition-related issues.
- Apply practical case analysis and troubleshooting techniques to real-world competition law scenarios.
Course Outline
Day One - Competition Law Fundamentals and Antitrust Risk Identification
- The purpose, objectives, and principles of competition law
- Development and evolution of modern antitrust regulation
- Key competition law concepts and terminology
- Competition authorities, regulatory frameworks, and enforcement mechanisms
- Understanding relevant markets and competitive conditions
- Market definition: product, geographic, and temporal dimensions
- Identifying potential competition law risks in commercial activities
- Distinguishing legitimate competition from potentially anti-competitive conduct
- Competition law risk assessment and early-warning indicators
- Practical competition law case studies and troubleshooting exercises
Day Two - Anti-Competitive Agreements, Cartels, and Information Exchange
- Understanding anti-competitive agreements and arrangements
- Horizontal agreements and competitor relationships
- Vertical agreements and distribution arrangements
- Cartels and prohibited coordination between competitors
- Price fixing, market sharing, bid rigging, and output restrictions
- Customer allocation and territorial allocation risks
- Information exchange between competitors
- Sensitive commercial information and communication risks
- Trade associations, industry meetings, and competitor contacts
- Practical identification and troubleshooting of cartel and coordination risks
Day Three - Abuse of Dominance, Pricing Practices, and Commercial Conduct
- Understanding market power and dominant positions
- Identifying and assessing potential abuse of dominance
- Exclusive dealing and exclusivity arrangements
- Tying, bundling, and conditional sales practices
- Predatory pricing and below-cost pricing concerns
- Excessive pricing and unfair commercial conditions
- Discounts, rebates, loyalty schemes, and incentive programmes
- Refusal to supply and access-related issues
- Discriminatory pricing and discriminatory commercial conditions
- Practical case studies in dominance and pricing-related antitrust risks
Day Four - Mergers, Investigations, Enforcement, and Regulatory Response
- Competition law considerations in mergers and acquisitions
- Merger notification and regulatory approval requirements
- Joint ventures, strategic alliances, and cooperation arrangements
- Identifying competition risks during due diligence
- Competition law issues in commercial transactions and negotiations
- Competition authority investigations and enforcement procedures
- Responding to information requests and regulatory inquiries
- Dawn raids, inspections, document preservation, and employee conduct
- Managing communications and evidence during competition investigations
- Practical regulatory investigation and enforcement response simulation
Day Five - Competition Compliance, Troubleshooting, and Masterclass Applications
- Developing effective competition law compliance programmes
- Competition law policies, procedures, controls, and internal guidance
- Training employees and creating competition law awareness
- Identifying, reporting, escalating, and managing competition concerns
- Internal investigations and competition risk reviews
- Practical competition law troubleshooting methodology
- Managing high-risk commercial scenarios and business decisions
- Integrated competition law case studies and problem-solving exercises
- Competition law compliance masterclass simulation
- Professional review, competency assessment, and final course certification
Why Attend This Course? - Gains & Losses!
Gains
- Develop a strong practical understanding of competition law and antitrust principles.
- Improve the ability to identify competition law risks before they become significant issues.
- Strengthen understanding of anti-competitive agreements and cartel risks.
- Improve assessment of competitor communications and information exchange.
- Develop stronger understanding of abuse of dominance and market power.
- Improve the ability to assess pricing, discounts, rebates, and commercial practices.
- Strengthen competition law considerations in mergers, acquisitions, and strategic transactions.
- Improve readiness for competition authority investigations and regulatory inquiries.
- Develop practical competition law troubleshooting and problem-solving capabilities.
- Strengthen internal competition compliance and risk-management practices.
- Improve communication between legal, compliance, commercial, and management teams.
- Reduce the likelihood of costly competition law violations and regulatory intervention.
- Support more confident and legally informed commercial decision-making.
- Develop a proactive approach to competition law risk identification and mitigation.
Potential Losses
Without sufficient competition law and antitrust awareness, organisations may face:
- Exposure to anti-competitive agreements and cartel-related risks.
- Significant regulatory investigations and enforcement action.
- Financial penalties and other regulatory consequences.
- Increased exposure arising from inappropriate competitor communications.
- Risky pricing, discounting, or commercial practices.
- Potential abuse of dominance concerns.
- Competition risks within distribution and supply arrangements.
- Delays or complications in mergers, acquisitions, and strategic transactions.
- Poor handling of competition authority investigations and information requests.
- Inadequate preservation or management of potentially relevant documents and communications.
- Increased legal, regulatory, and reputational exposure.
- Weak internal competition compliance controls.
- Delayed identification and escalation of competition law concerns.
- Disruption to commercial operations resulting from competition law issues.
- Missed opportunities to manage competition risks proactively and effectively.
Conclusion
Over five days, this masterclass provides a comprehensive and practical understanding of modern competition law and antitrust, with particular emphasis on identifying, assessing, and troubleshooting competition-related risks.
The programme combines legal principles with practical commercial applications covering anti-competitive agreements, cartels, information exchange, abuse of dominance, pricing practices, mergers, investigations, enforcement, and compliance.
Participants will develop the ability to recognise potential competition law concerns, assess commercial and regulatory exposure, respond effectively to competition-related challenges, and support stronger compliance and decision-making across their organisations.
Frequently Asked Questions FAQ
1. Who is this course designed for?
Legal professionals, competition lawyers, in-house counsel, compliance professionals, regulatory affairs specialists, economists, commercial managers, business executives, and professionals responsible for competition law and antitrust matters.
2. Is the course practical?
Yes. The programme has a strong practical focus, including case studies, commercial scenarios, risk assessments, investigation exercises, troubleshooting activities, and an integrated competition law masterclass simulation.
3. Does the course cover anti-competitive agreements and cartels?
Yes. It covers horizontal and vertical agreements, cartels, price fixing, market sharing, bid rigging, customer allocation, territorial restrictions, and information exchange.
4. Does the course cover abuse of dominance?
Yes. Participants examine market power, dominant positions, exclusive dealing, tying and bundling, predatory pricing, rebates, refusal to supply, discriminatory practices, and other potential forms of abuse.
5. Does the course cover pricing and commercial practices?
Yes. The programme covers pricing strategies, discounts, rebates, loyalty schemes, predatory pricing, excessive pricing, discriminatory pricing, and other potentially sensitive commercial practices.
6. Does the course cover mergers and acquisitions?
Yes. It covers merger control, notification considerations, joint ventures, strategic alliances, competition due diligence, and competition risks associated with commercial transactions.
7. Does the course cover competition authority investigations?
Yes. Participants examine regulatory investigations, information requests, inspections, dawn raids, document preservation, employee conduct, and effective responses to competition authorities.
8. Does the course cover competition compliance programmes?
Yes. The final day focuses on developing practical compliance programmes, internal policies, employee awareness, reporting procedures, escalation mechanisms, and competition risk management.
9. What is the duration of the course?
Five days, four hours per day, for a total of 20 training hours.
10. Is the course delivered by one trainer?
Yes. The entire training programme is designed to be delivered by one trainer throughout the five days.
